One of a kindness

The Times of India's Mumbai Mirror celebrated their 3rd Anniversary today. Under the Happiness section, Compassion column - we could really see Dr. A.R.K. Pillai reinventing compassion through his generous gestures. IDF thank Mr.Kevin Lobo, special reporter of Mumbai Mirror and the Times of India team for their kind and continued support to IDF in humanitarian programmes.

One of a kindness

Dr A R K Pillai preferred to help fight leprosy in his city, rather than carry on with his lucrative career

By Kevin Lobo

Dr A R K Pillai, founder of the Indian Leprosy Foundation (ILF), chuckles at the earliest memories of giving up his lucrative career and setting up his NGO. The man who is at the fore-front, fighting the disease, set up ILEF during Indira Gandhi's reign. "In my first year I had a collection of only Rs 720. How do you run an organisation with that amount?" asks 80-year-old Dr Pillai.Leaving behind a lucrative career in advertising and an experience in doing PR for the government, Dr. Pillai took the plunge in founding ILF. "I resigned from all my jobs. My friends and extended family thought I had gone insane," he says. "Of course it was not the most normal thing to do."The turning point in his life came in the form of a conference in Frankfurt where he was doing PR work for the government. "Other than public relations we used to collect funds for our country from Germany. At one of the conferences someone said 'Why don't you raise funds from your own country?'" says Dr. Pillai. Driven by national pride and discussions on the meaning of life he often had with his family, Dr. Pillai went ahead with his NGO plans. In 1980-1983 there were 40 lakh people suffering from leprosy, now, there are around 70,000.

Click Read more for complete report.